Opinion

The establishment of Daesh’s self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate in 2014 sent ripples into the fabric of the global terrorist movement. While the international community focused on the recruitment of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), the role of women and children, and Daesh’s media savviness, it lar...

Investment in human development is vital for Jordan’s survival, yet global economic policy has not given it enough consideration. Can the neoliberal economic model advanced by international financial institutions such as the IMF make room for the simultaneous development of the social sectors?
The I...

The international fight against violent extremism has been marked by cycles of bubble and burst: policy-makers turn a blind eye to structural causes until a violent extremist group emerges and bursts the safety bubble. Only then do governments rush to manage the threat. Yet as new affiliates have re...

One fifth of Jordan’s population is between 15 and 24 years old according to the Department of Statistics. They are the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, and influencers, which makes their political participation increasingly important. Yet are Jordanian youth sufficiently engaged? And are ...

While Jordanian youth make up nearly two-thirds of the population, they remain largely excluded from decision-making processes. With every government reshuffle, the youth agenda — including the long-awaited National Youth Strategy — seems to be sent back to the drawing board. The message received by...

With the military defeat of Daesh, the so-called ‘Islamic State’, questions about the group’s future remain. As the battle shifts from one of might to one of thought, new weaponry is needed in the on-going ideological fight. In a recent publication, the West Asia–North Africa (WANA) Institute analys...

Over the past week, we have witnessed some of the Syrian conflict’s worst days of violence. Since the start of the government’s aerial bombardment campaign of the rebel-held suburb of eastern Ghouta on February 18, over 500 civilians, including 121 children, have lost their lives. A collective feeli...

Mothers play a central role in their children’s lives by providing support and nurture that is unparalleled by others. Why is it then, that when violent actions and radical tendencies are being discussed, mothers are often overlooked as opposed to being supported and listened to as part of preventin...

Youth make up over 70 per cent of the Jordanian population. For many university graduates, entering the job market is a struggle due to the high unemployment rate, the lack of opportunities that match their skills, and a tendency of employers to value connections over merit. Securing a job with an i...

Jordan’s economy has long been categorised as one dominated by micro and small firms. This causes it to grow more slowly than economies with higher numbers of large firms. Yet the question of how to inspire firm growth is conspicuously missing from the debate on how to improve competitiveness in Jor...

On 17 December 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi was the spark that lit the fuse, changing the political landscape of West Asia and North Africa. What followed was a series of uprisings that swept across the region. As countries confronted their own version of the ‘Arab Spring’, it becam...

It is no strange fact that prison systems across the world are culpable for producing increasingly violent criminals. Research from the US, the West-Asia and North-Africa (WANA) region, and some states in the EU supports this. Ideological radicalisation and violent extremism are no exceptions to thi...

The so-called Islamic caliphate, Daesh, is considered a leap in the world of global terrorism. Even after a military defeat, the prominence of the Daesh model and the harsh reality on the ground, make the return of Daesh, or a Daesh-like group, a likely possibility in the future.
The sprint of Daesh...

Despite its middle income status, Jordan benefits from large amounts of development and humanitarian programming. This is largely due to its hosting of unprecedented numbers of refugees as well as its strategic positioning in the region’s current conflict dynamic. These funds usually come from inter...

Jordan faces dire environmental challenges and is ranked the second most water-scarce country in the world. An already difficult situation is being exacerbated by a high influx of refugees and the effects of climate change. Jordan is also one of the few energy resource-poor countries in West Asia. I...

Globally, more than 75 million children are out of school due to conflict and natural disasters, approximately the same number of children who are in school across the 28 countries of the European Union. This has devastating consequences. With displacement crises lasting on average 20 years, entire ...

After almost three years of sustained interest in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) research in Jordan, little has changed in the deep structures of governance. The relations between key stakeholders that can promise positive policy changes remain the same. Much hope was placed on the national CVE ...

Jordan recently abolished Article 308 of the Penal Code, which permits a rapist to marry his victim to escape criminal charges, if she consents. Though this may be a victory, the fact that it is a contentious issue, points to a bigger problem.
Article 308 often resulted in the victim being forcibly ...

Are youth disengaged? This is the question I was invited to speak about recently at the first of a series of ‘youth dialogues’, organised by Wilton Park in partnership with Restless Development, the WANA Institute, and the British Council. Despite a lot of the mainstream media rhetoric arguing to th...

It strikes an odd chord that a gender variation appears when discussing terrorism. It is most apparent in regional and international media reporting on terrorist incidents perpetrated by women, and greatly hinders Countering Violent Extremism efforts as policy is best informed through evidence-based...

As the Syrian refugee crisis enters its seventh year, the general discourse on Syrian refugee livelihoods has shifted. The crisis is now characterised as protracted, and host states are taking measures to include refugees in the labour market. However, in our rush to increase the participation of re...

Jordan should accommodate its rapidly growing population by prioritising the enrolment of youth in higher education. To facilitate this, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should adapt to how society, as well as the stakeholders and beneficiaries of civil society programmes, are changing. One questi...

The Jordanian city of Ma’an, located 220km south of Amman, has many reasons for being distinctive in its national context. The southern city, surrounded by endless hot and dusty vistas, has been described by international media outlets such as The Economist and Al Jazeera as “a hotbed of ISIS”.
Acco...

The impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt by populations world over. The World Bank predicts that certain cities will become unliveable, agricultural viability will decrease and pressure on already scarce water resources will escalate, potentially increasing migration and the risk of...

I’m a member of that generation of scholar-practitioners who were present when customary justice programming was dismissed as not ‘real’ justice work. I can vividly recall a former boss telling me that “at [organisation to remain unnamed], the only justice system is the formal one, and playing in th...

If social media is anything to go by, then a healthy majority of the region’s citizenry is dismayed by the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. No Arab could have missed the rhetoric Trump spent his election campaign claiming to stand for. We have heard his...

Afro-American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said that “perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends”.
In the first half of...

After having spent a month following their odyssey from a rural village in Eastern Damascus to the industrial German city of Stuttgart, separating from the Kreker siblings midway through the Balkans was challenging personally. By this point, I had grown emotionally attached to the weathered yet resi...

Tomorrow, August 19th, is World Humanitarian Day. There will be an abundance of articles about it, but few of them will discuss what it really means to be humanitarian. The most important aspect of being a humanitarian is to end wars and to work to sustain peace. It is not about summits and conferen...

Today, the fight for action to tackle climate change is at its peak. Action must be strategically coordinated, in order to create a higher impact. Here, the importance of an action like the Climate Action Network shines.
On the 28 of May 2016, the West Asia North Africa (WANA) Institute attended its...

We transited through five Greek islands –Rhodes, Symi, Nisyros, Kos and Kalymnos— as we sailed westward across the Aegean Sea, collecting more asylum seekers at every stop. Exhausted men and women passed out in the narrow corridors, while others hand washed their clothes, and those who could not sle...

What will future conflict look like? This question is the subject of David Kilcullen’s 2013 offering, Out of the Mountains; The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla (2013). It challenges us to question our preconceptions, to break away from siloed thinking and to be open to contributions from other dis...

The way in which Imams and religious leaders can help preventing violent extremism (PVE) is often discussed by academics, experts and policy-makers. Little is mentioned, however, on the role of women preachers (known as wa’ethat or murchidat in Arabic). This is not very constructive for PVE purposes...

Last week, Freedom House celebrated its 75th anniversary of advocating for freedom. I like Freedom House – mostly because I like freedom. Every year, I read their annual report on the status of freedom in the world with interest. Naturally, I focus on their findings in the WANA region. According to ...

Last month, I was fortunate enough to participate in a workshop that brought together over 30 experts to discuss integrated energy and water planning jointly hosted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, the Wuppertal Institute and the West Asia-North Africa Institute.
The discussions showcased how...

Over the past few years, violent extremism has ascended as the most perplexing security threat of present times. There is wide agreement on the need to prevent and counter violent extremism, but the question of how is not so easily answered. Current efforts range from comprehensive programs that foc...

You may have seen the Daesh helmet-cam video released by VICE on April 27, titled What It’s Really Like to Fight for the Islamic State. Contrary to the slick content pushed out by the Daesh media machine, this video reveals what life is really like for Daesh fighters on the front lines – and the pic...

This article first appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 23 April 2016
One need only glance at the headlines of any major news carrier to know that human migration has become a defining issue of the post-Cold War global economic order. But while European leaders squabble about the line b...

Interviews are perhaps one of the most engaging ways to do research. For one of our upcoming research projects (stay tuned), we were on the lookout for Syrian investors who have chosen Jordan as a safe haven for their industrial operations. Al-Durra, a food manufacturing ‘giant’, was recommended by...

It had been more than three weeks since Somar and his sisters commenced their long journey. Although they had not yet touched European soil, not a day had passed without them fantasizing about their parents one day following them to Germany.
The impossibility of safe and legal entry into Europe had ...

This article first appeared in the LA Times on Febuary 21, 2016
The number of refugees, asylum-seekers and other displaced persons exceeded 60 million globally last year. More than half of the refugees have been uprooted not for months, but for years upon years.
It's clear that the international leg...

This article first appeared in Lebanon's The Daily Star on March 25 2016
In 2010 the Lebanese government took a bold and innovative step in the name of national unity, social cohesion and tolerance among peoples.
The government marked a national holiday to celebrate the Annunciation – a commemoratio...

Syrian refugee children attend a class at a makeshift school set up in a tent at an informal tented settlement near the Syrian border on the outskirts of Mafraq, Jordan, August 11, 2015. Credit: AP
This article first appeared in Haaretz on April 3, 2016
At the end of WWII, world leaders, horrified ...

Syria is ravaged not by a single war but multiple interconnecting conflicts. Even disregarding the Kurds’ gradual push for autonomy in the North or the dramatic fight against ISIS in the East, Syria’s civil war is comprised of at least two related yet distinct wars. Although the 2011 revolution beg...

After spending three years in Jordan, detached from home and family, Somar was starting to get accustomed to life as a single man with minimum responsibility. “All I worried about in Jordan was my rent, but when I saw my sisters? My God! I realised how far removed from responsibility I was,” he told...

4,500 years ago, on the banks of the Tigris, what might be described as the world’s earliest water conflict took place between the Sumarian city-states of Lagash and Umma. Fast forward to 2016, and again battles are being waged for control over the precious resource in the WANA region. Water is bein...

Somar Kreker is a movie junkie. He loves cinema for the fact that it's a space that allows people to reimagine the worlds in which they live. As a teenager, he dreamt of opening a film club in Damascus, where stories of ordinary and extraordinary lives would be brought to the big screen. But of all ...

Scholarship on the discourse of women's rights has significantly developed in the past decades, with a specific focus on how religion influences women's legal and social roles. It has been argued that “the two major challenges to all human rights and especially those of women in the twenty first cen...

Every few years, when it becomes apparent that the favoured approach is not winning the fight against world poverty and conflict, a new jargon emerges. The latest catchphrase is resilience, a concept initially coined in the natural sciences. After a quick perusal of the websites of international dev...

There are many things that might surprise you when you’re living abroad. It could be the local cuisine, perceptions about tidiness, or the efficiency of the bureaucracy. Personally, what I always find most inspiring is a country’s people, and the deep and puzzling contrasts that are contained withi...